


Stay With Me, Don't Let Me Go

by IonFusion



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Anbu Hatake Kakashi, Anbu Uchiha Itachi, Anbu Uchiha Sasuke, Anbu Umino Iruka, Anbu Yamato | Tenzou, BAMF Umino Iruka, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Female Umino Iruka, Fix-It of Sorts, Jinchuuriki Umino Iruka Sort Of, KakaIru Mini Bang 2020, No Uchiha Massacre, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Root Umino Iruka, Soulmates, Spirit Animals, Uchiha Shisui Lives, Umino Iruka is a Senju, Umino Iruka is an Uzumaki
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24617749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IonFusion/pseuds/IonFusion
Summary: In a world where a select few are given a soulmate, Umino Iruka is one of the lucky ones. Well, if you don't count the civil war that drove her family from their home, the traitorous maniac that recruited her into his secret organization, or the fact that she can't even TELL her soulmate that they're, well, soulmates. She'll just have to content herself with giving everything she is to protect her loved ones, and maybe it will all turn out in the end.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Namikaze Minato/Uzumaki Kushina, Sarutobi Hiruzen & Umino Iruka, Umino Iruka & Uzumaki Kushina, Umino Iruka & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 35
Kudos: 99
Collections: KakaIru Mini Bang 2020





	1. Epilogue

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my entry for the KakaIru Mini Bang! It's fem!Iruka, yes; my usual trope. As of right now I'm almost finished with chapter 8 with plans for up to 15 chapters if all goes well. My goal is to post twice a week until it's complete, so I hope you guys like this! 
> 
> The title of this fic is taken from the song Ashes of Eden by Breaking Benjamin. This song actually really fits this fic well I think, but I'm not sure you'll be able to see the connections until later, sorry :/ Otherwise I thinks it's a great KakaIru song :)
> 
> Enjoy!

Iruka has not always been one with the sea. She may have been very small when it happened, but there are moments she can recall clear as day:

The warmth of her mother’s arms as she was carried to the seaside. 

The calloused hands of her father as he lifted her firmly and placed her in the beam of moonlight. 

The other infants, three besides herself, hushed and wide-eyed and waiting. 

The salt-spray and rush of the tides. 

The beautiful woman, ethereal, glowing in the moon, liquid and light and the thunder of the surf in the dawn, leaning over her and whispering in a language unspoken by mortals but understood just the same, “ _ I choose…  _ **_this_ ** _ one. _ ” 

And then the sensation of becoming the ocean itself.

Iruka has never been the same. 

Always there is something there at the edge of her mind, a presence just as familiar as her own - sometimes whispers, spoken in the language of waves and gulls, sometimes in the torrential screams of hurricanes. More than anything else, though, there is power - power resting just beneath her skin, surging and pulsing with her emotions, promising her the strength she will need to one day protect her loved ones. 

One day - but not now.

“Papa? Papa, why -”

A finger presses to her lips in universal gesture as her father uses his other hand to scoop precious belongings into a bag. “Hush, little starfish; we must hurry. Your mother is gathering food, and you must help me pack.”

Careful to keep her voice lowered, Iruka furrows her brow. “But Papa, wha’ should I b’ing?”

He takes a moment to pause and look deep into her eyes, one hand coming to rest on her shoulder. “Anything precious that will fit in your pack.” He hands her the back and gives her a gentle shove. “ _ Go _ . We must move quickly.”

Tiny feet patter along the tatami to her room. Her window is open and lets in a single beam of moonlight to illuminate the darker corners - just enough to let her see by (though she would not have needed it anyway). Iruka scampers as quietly as she can around, carefully folding her grandmother’s seashell necklace within a shawl woven soft and warm by her mother’s hands. There is a book,  _ The Tale of The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi _ , that she slips into her bag, as well as a bundle of practice senbon. Iruka peers into the top of her bag; there’s a little room left.

There’s a soft glow beside her before something not unlike fur brushes up against her side. Iruka absently strokes the wolf’s pelt as she murmurs, “Wha’ else, Okami?”  _ Wolf _ \- but Iruka is only four, so perhaps she can be excused. Okami whuffs softly and tilts his head to her gradenza. 

“Oh!” 

Quickly she is there, small hands rummaging through drawers and rifling through belongings. A small pile is made: an old fleece vest of her mother’s; a long-sleeve shirt from her father; wool socks; a pair of small, fingerless gloves; her favorite cargo shorts, perfect for carrying back treasures from the beach; a chunk of coral gifted to her by one of her namesake; a yellow Sou’wester hat; and a poncho the same merry shade as the hat. 

There’s a nudge in the back of her mind, and Iruka nearly trips over to dig through her closet and bring out the small box that holds the two keepsakes of her mother’s heritage Iruka had ever been given: a large acorn and a weathered patch shaped as a vermillion-red swirl. The two treasures are removed from the box and carefully stored at the bottom of her pack. 

A couple pairs of clothes go in, including the ones she pulled from her drawers. 

There’s nock. “Starfish? Please wear these tonight.” Her father hands her dark clothes, shades of blue and grey that look like the shadows given form. Obediently Iruka dons them - thick pants, a long sleeve shirt, a knit cap - and wanders back to her parents’ room. 

“Finished, Papa.” He takes her pack, weighs it in his hand before nodding in approval. 

“Good girl,” he praises. “Now, take this. You remember how to wear it, don’t you?”

She nods and takes the sheathed dagger from him. Iruka may have been four, but she had been training for a year already. The dagger is belted to her thigh. There are senbon, she notes, cleverly tucked into the seams; those had not been there before.

“Now go grab your shoes, but don’t put them on yet. Wait till your mother and I say so.” 

Another nod, and 10 minutes later Iruka and her parents are creeping quickly across the compound and away from the sea. 

There is much activity in the compound this night, families gathering what belongings they can before fleeing into the dark. Some run to the ocean, that ancient benefactor, while others rush along its edge. Iruka and her family must go farther, must cover more ground in order to stay safe.

Because Iruka may have been four, but she had been training for a year already, and she had been Bonded for longer than that; she knew she was a target. 

Once they’re far enough away, Iruka is allowed to slip on her small shinobi sandals and is lifted in her father’s strong arms.

And they run into the night. 

* * *

When Iruka asks, she is told they are going to Konohagakure. 

“Your mother’s family has ties there,” Ikkaku says, and her mother smiles sadly.

“Your fam’y, mama?”

Kohari shifts her higher on her hip without missing a step. “Yes, Mizunoko. Your grandfather - my father - was the son of the cousin of two very important people in Konoha, and your grandmother - my mother - was the niece of the woman who married one of those important people. They will let us live in Konoha.” 

Her tone brooked no argument, but Iruka could feel the anxiety her mother tried to hide. She smiled and placed a hand on her mother’s cheek. “Don’ worry, Mama! I’s gonna be okay!” 

The anxiety melts into fond warmth and an amusement echoed by the man beside them, and Iruka knows she has succeeded. 

For days they walk or run until they are forced to take boats to reach the outer islands. From there Ikkaku secures passage on a trading ship to the ruins of Uzushio, the closest to Hi no Kuni any captain will take them. It costs him extra, Iruka will later learn, to be dropped there at all, and she almost thinks that her mother’s silent anguish at the sight of the decimated village makes it not worth it at all. 

They travel quickly for two more days before they slow down and begin to take their time. Her parents smile disarmingly and swear it’s so she can get used to her new home, but Iruka isn’t stupid, and she isn’t some untrained whelp; Iruka has  _ power _ , and she has been learning how to  _ use _ it. 

With her eyes open, she can feel the water everywhere. In the plants, in people, in animals. With her eyes closed, sound begins to echo back to her and forms images in her mind to go along with what the water tells her. Eyes opened  _ or _ closed, Iruka can sense the bad intentions of the four men who have been trailing them since right before her parents slowed their pace.

That night, the small family is ambushed. Iruka, pretending to sleep, lunges from her blanket and scurries up a tree, setting a basic trap or two that barely manages to slow the man racing after her; the other three bandits are fighting her parents. 

She jerks her ankle back from a grasping hand and climbs higher. The bandit lunges again, this time snagging the cloth of her pants, and Iruka is jerked from the tree and dangled above the distant ground.

“Stop fightin’ ‘r I  _ drop _ ‘er,” he snarls. 

Instantly the fighting stops. Iruka thinks she hears her mother breathe her name (she can certainly feel her mother’s  _ fear _ ). 

“Now,” the bandit begins in satisfaction, “why doncha -”

But Iruka gives him no time to continue. Her dagger is drawn and flying before he can finish speaking, the blade piercing his stomach smoothly - and Iruka is dropped.

Her parents shout in terror.

A jagged branch tip catches her skin and gouges a stripe across her nose.

Okami howls.

But Iruka feels that presence in her mind, the one she loves almost as much as her own mother, surge forward and wrap around her protectively and cushion her landing. She stands, and water slips from her skin back into the ground. The confusion and distraction of the bandits is just enough for Ikkaku and Kohari to finish them all off. 

And then Iruka is sandwiched between her family, and all is well again. 

(Kohari cleans and bandages Iruka’s wound. It will scar, she’s told, but she doesn’t mind; all great warriors have cool scars.)

* * *

Konohagakure no Sato is much prettier than Iruka’s home in Mizu no Kuni (not prettier than the sea itself, though). There are trees everywhere, and everything not green is in warm shades of brown or cool shades of grey and blue. The shinobi even wear red swirls like the one her mother gave her! 

Kohari smiles down at Iruka and swings her up onto deceptively strong shoulders. From there the older woman names the different kinds of trees - including the oaks, the trees that acorns come from. 

Iruka feels like she’s floating, and even the suspicion directed towards her small family isn’t enough to bring her down. 

A man in a white mask painted to look like a badger guides them towards a tower with a school attached to it. In the yard Iruka can see children throwing kunai or practicing taijutsu, and she realizes it’s a  _ shinobi _ school. 

“Mama,” she says, breathless with excitement, “I wanna go  _ there _ . Can I? P’ease? Look! They’re gonna be  _ s’nobi _ !”

The badger-man’s head tilts slightly in her direction, and she can sense his amusement even though nothing about him outwardly changes. It is, she thinks,  _ very _ cool. 

It turns out that they are being brought to talk to the Hokage, which is  _ also _ very cool. He’s old,  _ much _ older than her father, but he smiles kindly at her and even lets her play with his hat. 

From her seat on the floor, entire body dwarfed by the hat, Iruka listens to the ensuing conversation.

“I must say,” the Hokage - Sarutobi, he introduced - drawls pleasantly, “I am…  _ intrigued _ . You introduced yourself as Kiri at the gate?”

Ikkaku nods respectfully. “Yes. I want my family to be safe, not to live in fear.”

Sarutobi hums. “Why Konoha? Our villages are not currently on good terms, you must understand.” 

Iruka senses her parents’ hesitation. “... Up until recently,” her father begins cautiously, “the Umino were a respected clan on one of the far islands of Mizu no Kuni. However, our hidan were desired by individuals more powerful than us, and we were forced to scatter in order to protect ourselves.”

“You would flee rather than fight?” 

Another moment of hesitation, and this time it is Kohari who speaks. “Our daughter is special, Hokage-sama. We could not, besides loving her dearly, allow her to fall into corrupted hands.”

Iruka peeks out from under the hat to find Sarutobi watching her with a thoughtful expression. Hoping to be helpful she explains cheerfully, “I got a spirit in my head!” 

Wizened eyes widen, and he looks back at her parents. “A jinchuuriki?” he breathes.

Her father, frantic and desperate, waves his hands. “No! No, Hokage-sama, not a jinchuuriki. Not - Not exactly.” The tenseness in her parents has returned along with the beginnings of fear, and Iruka frowns.  _ No _ one makes her parents scared!

Tiny legs lift her to her whole height, and she pushes the hat back on her head so that she can peer up, up, up at the Hokage. “Don’ scare Mama an’ Papa!” she chastises. “They wanna protec’ me! An’ they come here ‘cause Mama gave me a acorn an’ a red swirls ‘cause that’s her  _ fam’ly _ ! Mama an’ Papa said Konoha would  _ gotta _ let us stay!” 

In her irritation she nearly stamps her foot, but she’s so overwhelmed by the desperation she can feel from her parents that she nearly starts crying instead.

“We hadda leave in th’ night,” she wails, “an’ run fer  _ ever _ , an’ I  _ know _ Mama an’ Papa said we gonna be ‘kay, but yer feelin’ like we  _ can’t stay _ but we  _ gotta _ ‘cause th’ bad guys wan’ Uminosei an’ I can’ let ‘em  _ have  _ her so I gotta be  _ s’nobi _ but I  _ can’t _ if you keeps feelin’ like bad-trust an’  _ not lettin’ us stay _ -”

By now the hat has fallen from her head, and she’s blubbering, practically  _ begging _ him to understand, because there’s  _ no way _ she’ll let herself keep putting her family in danger just because of what she carries. 

Uminosei, the voice in the back of her head, has granted her an intelligence beyond her age. It is this intelligence, guided by the spirit’s gentle prompting, that urges Iruka to say, “ _ Please _ let us stay, Hokage-sama-ojisan! I’ll - I’ll do  _ anythin’ _ if you let us stay so’s Mama an’ Papa can be ‘tected, too!” 

There is silence in the room - audible silence, anyway, because to Iruka it rings with shock.

Sarutobi laughs softly. “Your daughter is very special, indeed.” He stands from his chair and kneels in front of her instead. “What is your name, little one?”

“Ir-ruka,” she sniffles and wipes carefully at her eyes in order to avoid the bandage across her nose.

“Iruka, that is a very pretty name you have. You also have some very unique abilities. Can you tell me what I’m feeling right now?”

She nods hesitantly. “Feelin’... curious. An’... thinkin’. Maybe… Maybe like we c’n stay?” Hope begins to unfurl in her chest. 

He laughs gently. “Yes. That is exactly it. You are amazing.” He looks above her head. “Did you know Iruka-chan was a sensor?”

“N-No,” her mother admits. “We’ve always just thought she was very perceptive.”

“And the acorn and swirl? You are Senju and Uzumaki?” He is beginning to feel warmer, more accepting. 

“Half and half - a cousin to Hashirama-sama and Tobirama-sama, and a niece of Mito-sama.”

_ Now _ Iruka can feel surprise from the Hokage and from the badger-man and from three other people hiding within the shadows. 

There’s a long period of silence, then, “You can prove this?”

“Yes, Hokage-sama. I brought the official documentation of my birth with me when I moved to Mizu no Kuni and now to here.”

The Hokage huffs another quiet laugh and rises to his feet. “Based on that alone, Kohari-san, you and your daughter are guaranteed refuge in Konoha. Ikkaku-san, you will have to undergo an interrogation in order to prove your intentions and loyalty besides offering a detailed explanation of the skills and abilities of yourself and your family, but I have all faith that you will pass with flying colors.”

Iruka beams and flings her arms around his legs. “Thank you thank you thank you!” she squeals, because she knows this means they can  _ stay _ . She offers his hat back, which he takes, and then she throws herself into her mother’s arms and cuddles up to her. 

“Badger,” the Hokage says pleasantly, “please escort Ikkaku-san and his family to the guest housing and then bring Yamanaka-san here to be debriefed.”

Badger bows, and he leads Iruka and her family once more out into the bright sunshine. 

Konoha is already beginning to feel like home.


	2. Starfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danzo makes his debut, but Iruka knows what she's doing - and she will do anything to keep her precious people safe.

It’s been three years since Iruka and her parents came to Konoha. She was enrolled in the Academy at six, but all along she’s been trained by her parents, too. 

Umino Iruka is formidable, already at genin level - but she’s also a secret. 

There are reasons of course for this decision. Sarutobi Hiruzen didn’t want her to become a target for others, and he - perhaps selfishly - didn’t want his very own village to ruin her. 

Much good has come of this arrangement. For example, Iruka can pretend to be a regular seven-year-old. She’s also gotten to meet Namikaze Minato, one of the Hokage candidates, and Uzumaki Kushina, his girlfriend. 

Sarutobi wanted Iruka to meet Kushina because a) they were related, and b) because, as a jinchuuriki, Kushina would be able to better understand and and help train Iruka than anyone else in the village. Iruka met Minato more for convenience - he was Kushina’s boyfriend - but he was also intelligent and kind. From the moment he met Iruka, Namikaze Minato swore to help protect her and her family. 

But they aren’t the only people Iruka is introduced to. 

Out of necessity, Iruka and her parents are brought before the Hokage’s inner circle, made up of his old genin teammates and his old friend, Shimura Danzo - and it is with Danzo that this story really begins. 

Now that she’s older, Iruka understands better why her true skills must be kept a secret. She agrees with her Hokage’s decision, especially since it will allow her to better protect her family. 

It doesn’t change the fact that Iruka is, in her own way, a prodigy. At the age of seven she is already capable of controlling her chakra and defending herself at a genin level. The basics come easy to her, and even though her repertoire could use some sprucing, she’s only seven, for kami-sakes! Iruka is bored and unchallenged with the Academy curriculum. She knows that in order to continue improving, she  _ must _ receive higher training - but she cannot seek it out publicly, and of those who know her secret all are busy with their own lives, missions, and priorities. 

So when Councilman Danzo approaches her privately and asks her to join Root, she accepts almost immediately.

(She can feel deceit in his intent, but his words are true; he will train her to become formidable, and she  _ will _ be protecting her family and new home.)

Right off the bat there are complications. 

According to Danzo, the training period can last up to months at a time, months that Iruka cannot be allowed to have outside contact for. It’s to keep her focused, he explains, and to allow her to devote the appropriate amount of attention the intense regimen requires. 

Iruka can’t just disappear. Her family is foreign and new, so people would notice, and she’s too well guarded to make it seem like a kidnapping (the kidnapping, ironically enough, is her idea). But she cannot, he insists, be allowed to train and return back to her family each night; it just won’t work. 

The solution: Danzo takes her on as an apprentice. Like every other choice made regarding Umino Iruka so far, this idea has many benefits: not only will it keep suspicion away for however long training will take, but the Hokage and her parents will  _ allow _ it because she  _ is _ actually being trained and taught by one who can also keep up with her Academy lessons however long she is away. 

Granted, it does take a  _ little _ extra convincing to get the other involved adults to agree to Iruka disappearing off the face of the earth for a while, but Danzo manages. 

Even  _ knowing _ that he’s been lying doesn’t keep Iruka from being nearly overwhelmed by the intensity and sort of training she undergoes. 

First of all, she’s taken to a secret facility where other children are going through the same thing.  _ Huge _ red flag right there.There’s the regular stuff - endurance training, ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu, and the like - but there’s also ‘mental conditioning’.

Brainwashing.  _ Second _ red flag. 

Iruka doesn’t undergo her first brainwashing session for two weeks. It’s a severe combination of torture tactics, layered genjutsu, Yamanaka techniques, and hypnosis all geared towards breaking her spirit and mind until she loses her identity and is loyal only to Danzo and the village. It’s subtle and clever.

But Iruka has an ancient spirit that shares her body, soul, and mind, and Uminosei teaches her how to lie and cheat the system. For a while Iruka’s identity is given completely over to her companion for protection so that Iruka can focus on everything else. Towards the end Uminosei reconditions Iruka for the real world until Danzo believes that what is now the  _ real _ Iruka is the  _ mask _ of Iruka instead. 

In four months Iruka has undergone hell and comes out the other side strong enough to be a high chunin; everything else, Danzo promises, will come with time. 

She is given a blank mask and sent back to her family for two weeks before she begins to take missions (only long enough to last a night if possible, otherwise she claims to be staying with her shishou). 

Iruka’s mind is still a little scrambled from her ‘training’, so it takes several more months before she is able to begin putting the pieces together once more:

Root is illegal. Danzo is lying to the Hokage. Danzo is a _traitor_. She was _tortured_ and _shouldn’t even_ _know_ that she was tortured. 

The fury burns hot and intense, and two days later finds her skipping her Academy class to slip into the Hokage’s office.

“Iruka-chan? Is something the matter?”

Her abilities - sensory, echolocation, and water-related - have been sharpened with training and experience; only Sarutobi’s three ANBU guards and Minato are in the room with them, and she knows none of the ANBU are remotely affiliated with Danzo. 

So she opens her mouth and spills Konoha’s darkest secret.

Minato and Sarutobi are horrified. That sort of darkness lives in  _ their _ village? How?! 

“We  _ must _ do something!” 

“Do  _ what _ ,” the Hokage patiently counters. “We have no evidence except the word of a girl who has fooled Yamanaka techniques; no one will believe her. Danzo is too much considered a hero of this village to just be sentenced on even  _ my _ word alone; people would think me unfit for my title or even accuse me of being an imposter. No, we must have  _ proof _ .”

They all think silently before Iruka requests, “Let me go undercover.”

The attention of five people is riveted on her, but she’s already had worse and does not let her focus waver. 

“Danzo will suspect nothing. I will continue in Root, but I will report to you everything I’m able to uncover, everything I do. I am one of Danzo’s favorite’s already, so chances are he will assign me to high-profile missions; this will allow me to help you track his movements, uncover his motives, and understand his intentions.”

The adults blink at her in subdued shock. 

“I’m volunteering,” she adds, “and not just because I think it’s my duty. Currently I’m your best bet to bring him down.”

Minato frowns. “Why not recruit us another operative?”

Immediately she shakes her head in denial. “Danzo places seals on the others in order to keep them from ever speaking about him or the organization by name.”

Now the Hokage frowns. “But he has not sealed you?”

Another shake of her head. “No. It was too risky with me since I must pretend to be relatively normal. Besides, I’m still technically his apprentice. If I can’t talk about shishou by name or even talk just  _ enough _ about my training to convincingly lie about it, then there’s no point. Result: no seal.”

“Convenient,” Minato mutters.

“We’ll take it,” Sarutobi states. “Very well, Iruka-chan. You will return to Root acting undercover for us. In fact…” He studies her thoughtfully before humming to himself. “Yes, I believe that might work.” Louder, “I will speak to Danzo myself about your supposed training and convince him to let you join ANBU. This way you will have an excuse to interact directly with me.”

Understanding and respect wafts from Minato in gentle waves. “It will also lead Danzo to believe that he has a spy in ANBU.”

“That means I  _ will _ have to give him enough real information to keep him from being suspicious,” she warns, but of course her Hokage, the God of Shinobi, has already thought of that. 

“It is no worry, my dear. Danzo is already so deeply entrenched within the village's machinations that you will rarely be able to report something he does not already know.”

It is Iruka’s turn to think. “So I will be a… triple agent?”

“Quadruple,” Minato corrects with mild humor. “Technically you are still working solely for us.”

Ugh. She can feel a headache coming on. 

A week later Danzo approaches her and her family to tell them that she is being recruited into ANBU. 

Iruka, in a fit of selfishness, requests to request her designation. Somewhat surprisingly, the Hokage and his ANBU commander agree. Danzo, in a fit of humor, grants his otherwise-identity-less operative a corresponding name.

So it is that Umino Iruka, age eight, Root agent codename Kaisei, adds one more title to her name: ANBU designation Starfish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I might have lied. I'm just - so excited to share this idea with y'all. Everything has just worked out so smoothly as I've been writing and - ugh. So. Excited. And I've decided that I won't have an actual update schedule, so I'll just post as soon as I'm ready. 
> 
> Note: Kaisei does mean 'starfish' in Japanese, in case you were wondering.
> 
> Please remember to leave kudos or a comment; I live for either, but especially comments :)


	3. What Are Soulmates and How to Find Them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically the title, lol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be up on Monday. Enjoy! :)

Seeing as the ghost-wolf has been there for as long as Iruka can remember, it’s only logical that she would have asked her parents about it at some point. 

She had to have been… oh, five maybe, and Iruka remembers the look of surprise her parents had shared. 

What followed was an explanation of soulmates that Iruka would later do more research on. 

Basically, it’s like this: 

Not everyone is born with a soulmate. However, everyone _with_ a soulmate is guaranteed to meet them at least once, and they are given a way to identify each other, that way being ‘spirit’ animals. 

Technically, the creatures are chakra constructs; they can even influence and interact with the regular world to some degree. Many philosophers have theorized that everyone has these ‘spirit’ animals, but whatever force ties soulmates together also allows the soulmates to see the animal of the other. In fact, each soulmate’s animal is actually a representation of the _other_ soulmate. Soulmates identify each other by seeing the animal that represents _them_. 

For example, if one person is best represented by a macaque, then their soulmate’s spirit animal would be a macaque, and the first person would only know who their soulmate is once they see their soulmate’s spirit-animal macaque.

It is… kind of confusing, admittedly, but cute and romantic all the same. 

So, Okami is, thankfully, not the legend Iruka had initially mistaken him for. Instead, her soulmate is supposedly very much like the silvery creature. 

_I wonder what_ **_my_ ** _soulmate’s animal is…?_

Uminosei whispers, _Dolphin,_ and Iruka laughs. It _would_ be ironically appropriate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys have any questions about how soulmates work in this AU, please ask :) I tried to explain it as best I could, but my version might be just a *little* complicated. Oops. So excited to share this with you, though!
> 
> The urban legend I mention is more of a legendary creature: Ōkami, a powerful wolf spirit that either takes your life or protects it depending on the actions one does in his or her life (got this from Wiki). 
> 
> So, long story short, Little Iruka first thought that her 'spirit' animal was there to judge her actions and, since she wasn't dead yet, must have decided she was a good enough kid to protect her. She names him Ōkami because that's what she thinks he is. So cute! 
> 
> Side Note: I can't use the dash thing above the 'o' (Ō) without copying and pasting, and I'm too lazy to do that every time, so in the fic I'll continue to spell it 'Okami'.


	4. Located: One Unsuspecting Soulmate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Starfish is assigned to Team Ro for a standard assassination mission in Kiri, and current commitments get in the way of possible happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you are, lovelies! Hope you all are doing well :) Please leave if a review if you'd be so kind! 
> 
> Also, next chapter will be up on Thursday. Enjoy!

By the time Starfish is 10, she has been Root for three years and ANBU for two. In that time she’s taken all sorts of missions though her abilities lend her more towards reconnaissance and infiltration, and she has grown from high chunin to mid-jounin in skill (it _would_ be higher except Iruka really can’t risk being _too_ advanced while she’s still an Academy student).

So when she’s assigned to Team Ro as support on some assassination mission in Kiri, she thinks nothing of it. Same old, same old. 

They’re in Kiri, so Starfish is feeling distinctly more powerful than ever. She’s surrounded by water - by _saltwater_ \- and, though her will may be Fire, her soul is Water almost down to her very _bones_. 

For once, there is someone on the team who is almost as young as she is. He’s a new recruit, a mask she hasn’t seen before, but she recognizes the name from the murmurs of appreciation she’s heard from Danzo and from Sarutobi: Hound. 

He’s a rising star, a prodigy, fast and fearless and efficient. 

He is also, she decides, a little stuck up.

Most people wouldn’t be able to form such an opinion seeing as ANBU are silent and notoriously hard to read - but Root agents are _dead inside_ , and Starfish can _still_ read them, not to mention she knows what Hound is feeling at any given moment in his presence. 

Hound is determined, a little lost, hurt and angry, and all these things serve to make him aloof. He’s 14, dammit, and he acts like he’s 30. It’s just - 

No. _Not_ okay.

_But_ , she thinks savagely as she kills another of the Kiri nin that ambushed them, _the twit may be good, but_ **_I_ ** _have_ **_experience_ ** _._ And two years may not seem like a lot, but Starfish was _Kaisei_ , was Root, and two years was a _lifetime_ in that hell.

So when Starfish senses a flare of frustration-panic-resignation from behind her and the glee of the enemy, she is already halfway across the field with a wave of water flying from her fingertips before she even notices the silver dolphin flipping frantically through the air around Hound’s head. 

Wait, _what_?!

Then the Kiri nin is dead, body wrenched brutally apart by arms of water, and Hound, stoically irritated, is off to engage another opponent. 

Starfish freezes, mind stuttering for a millisecond as she tries to comprehend that _Hound_ of all people is her _soulmate_.

(And not only that, but the dolphin had been out during a fight? That was just _asking_ to be distracted!) 

Once the Kiri nin are disposed of and the mission completed, the ANBU stop on the coast near old Uzushio in order to bandage wounds and swallow chakra pills. Starfish is one of the least injured and of the few trained in some iryojutsu, so she goes around doing what she can for her comrades. 

Hound is one of the _most_ injured, a combination of dumb luck and a self-sacrificial attitude. Starfish treats him third, kneeling by his side and coating her hands in a layer of water before placing them on the gash in his side. Her hands glow green with healing chakra, her natural affinity for water amplifying her healing chakra to something closer to helpful than basic.

They stay silent as she works on him, and she uses the quiet to think. 

_Do I tell him? Do I manifest Okami?_

Except… Starfish, for all that Hound irritates her, respects him as a shinobi. If he is new to ANBU, then she has no right to just dump this revelation on him. Besides that, Starfish is still working to bring down Danzo; to reveal herself to her soulmate would be to bring yet another distraction into her life - a distraction she cannot afford. And for all that she _feels_ 30, she's still only 10.

Starfish stays silent. The dolphin has long since vanished, and she almost misses its presence. 

Hound feels grudgingly thankful but also like he doesn't know how to say it. She is kinder than she could be as she bandages what she doesn't have the skill to heal, and as she stands she rests a gentle hand on his shoulder. 

Before he can say or gesture anything, Starfish is gone, moving on to the next person in need. 

At least she knows _where_ to look for her soulmate, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. So, that happened. This chapter was short, but I'm working on chapter 11 rn, and the chapters do start to get longer (but not too long). 
> 
> My projected estimate of 15 chapters has gone up to 19. As in, I planned out the rest of the fic more thoroughly and ended up having to split some sections up in order to keep them shorter. So, 19-20 total chapters depending on how things go. 
> 
> If you'd like to see the picture with better quality, check it out on my Tumblr (ionfusionpunk). It just looks way better on there :/ And this one has boosted def! Argh!
> 
> Stay safe, you guys! :)


	5. Kyuubi Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world is falling apart - but maybe Iruka can still find light in the darkness.

Iruka is first approached by Minato and Kushina. 

“We’d like you to be there,” the blond smiles kindly. 

“M-Me? But I -”

“You’re _family_ ,” Kushina protests. “An’ besides that, you can help protect Naru-bo if -” She bites her lip, anxiety sparking like a live wire, “if somethin’ goes wrong. We _trust_ you, Iru-chan, dattebane.”

“Kushina’s right,” Minato agrees, wife tucked under his arm. “You’re family.”

The next to approach her is Sarutobi, unsurprisingly.

“Your abilities may prove helpful,” he tells her wisely. “You are a fair hand at seals, and your iryojutsu is nothing to scoff at either.”

She’s pretty sure he’s lying about the iryojutsu part because half of the time it’s not even _real iryojutsu_ \- but Iruka will take it anyway, because meh. Why not. She’s already promised Kushina-oneesan and Minato-san that she’ll be there, so what’s one more identical promise?

Of course, then she must go to Danzo and report the invitations to him. 

“This is… interesting,” the councilmember intones. “Hiruzen, Minato-san, and Kushina-san _all_ want you there?” 

She nods. “Hai, Danzo-shishou.”

He hums, and there is laughter trembling beneath the monotone and humor rippling around him. “You would be present as Iruka or as Starfish?”

“Both,” the girl admits. “I will not be wearing the mask, but the full extent of my abilities will be available.”

Another hum, and more amusement. “Then you shall go as Kaisei, as well, and report to me after.”

Iruka bows her head. “As always, shishou.” It’s always convenient when her three identities align.

* * *

The man in the mask is unexpected. Iruka, for all her training, isn’t prepared for him, and she most _definitely_ isn’t prepared for what he unleashes. 

Minato does most of the heavy work while Sarutobi Biwako and Iruka fight to save Kushina from the release of the Kyuubi. The masked man - an Uchiha, Iruka knew, blood ice in her veins - had practically ripped the Kyuubi from Kushina’s weakened seal. Generally, such an action would kill the jinchuuriki, but Kushina is full-blooded Uzumaki, and Iruka hopes - prays - that the strong life-force of the Uzumaki will save the red-headed woman. 

Kushina holds her newborn son for all of 30 seconds before the Uchiha is back, and then Iruka is suddenly standing several hundred feet away with the baby in her arms. A yellow flash from beside her is all the answer she needs to the question of how she got there; a moment later giant chakra chains are joining the fight.

_What…?_

Iruka looks down at the ugly thing squirming and wailing in her arms. This is supposed to be cute…? But she can imagine that with his blond hair, blue eyes, and cute little whiskers Naruto will be quite adorable pretty soon.

_No._ **_Focus_ ** _. There’s a crazy, rogue Uchiha running around trying to kill everyone, and the Kyuubi is loose. What would Mother -_

She stills, and dread crashes over her. Her parents!

There’s not much she can do here, she decides, and taking Naruto from the fight might just help her friends focus on their own battle. Iruka nods to herself and races off towards the village as fast as she can go with Naruto carefully cradled in her arms. 

The village is in chaos. Civilians and children run screaming, and shinobi are either helping with evacuations or speeding towards where the nine-tailed bijuu looms like death incarnate. 

It’s not very difficult to find her parents. They’re making their way towards Kyuubi, helping others along the way.

“Iruka!” Kohari cries as soon she sees them. “Iruka, what are you _doing_ here?! You’ll -”

Naruto squirms and lets out a wail, all attention snapping to him. 

“... Is that…” 

She nods. “Yeah. I - His parents are fighting Kyuubi. I’m keeping him safe.”

Ikkaku frowns dangerously. “By bringing him into the middle of a _warzone_?”

His words bite, and Iruka ducks her head; she bounces the baby in her arms in an attempt to quiet him. “I needed to find you,” she whispers, but there’s no time to say anything else because suddenly the Kyuubi is _there_ , and destruction rains from the sky.

* * *

Everything is still. 

Iruka stands clutching a small bundle to her chest staring down at the body of her Hokage. 

Every sound echoes back to her in a strange way, and nothing feels quite _real_.

Her parents were dead - killed protecting her and the surrounding civilians. There had been no time to process before her instincts were screaming to get back _now_ , and she had run all the way to where Kushina and Minato were fighting just in time to slip inside the barrier the blond Hokage raised. 

Minato had taken his son tenderly in his arms, blue eyes dull and haunted as he rasped, “I have to make him a jinchuuriki.”

After that, things happened in a blur, and all Iruka knows now is that Kushina is severely wounded, maybe even lethally, and Namikaze Minato is dead after finishing the last strokes of the seal in his own blood. 

Well, _seals_ , because in the face of his imminent demise, Minato decided to split Kyuubi's chakra in two and give half to his newborn son and seal the other half with himself in Shinigami's stomach, and the last seal is more of a hastily-drawn sketch; maybe, just _maybe_ , Kushina will be able to finish it, read her dead husband’s mind, and maybe call back the last half of the bijuu’s chakra when the village needs it most. 

Because Minato is dead, literally sealed away in Death, and Kushina isn’t the Kyuubi jinchuuriki any longer, and one day the village might need someone to save it.

(And Iruka knows that Minato wasn’t just loved for his kind nature and his skill but also because he was a _visionary_ , a man with a dream of peace, a leader to take them into the future he saw - but she wishes angrily that his forethought wasn’t _needed_.)

Iruka lays Naruto down next to his mother’s trembling body and shakily covers her hands in the familiar mix of water and healing chakra. There’s a gash in Kushina’s side, the result of a claw she barely dodged, and blood is seeping from it at a worrying pace. 

By the time ANBU and Sarutobi get to them, Iruka is drained, but Kushina is still alive, and that’s all that matters. 

There’s a wizened old hand on her shoulder gently pulling her back so that medinins can get to the patient.

And Iruka knows no more. 

* * *

Iruka goes through the next week in a daze. 

Kushina lives and will make an almost-full recovery. There will be some physical limitations to what she can do for maybe even several years, but she will be perfectly capable of operating at 100% otherwise.

Naruto is taken into Sarutobi’s care until Kushina is out of the hospital; Iruka, too, since her parents are dead and her home partially decimated. 

Sarutobi steps into the vacancy left in the wake of the Yondaime’s death, at least until someone else can be chosen. 

Iruka goes to her home to see if anything can be salvaged, Okami unwaveringly by her side.

Not for the first time, the brunette finds herself overwhelmingly grateful for storage seals - specifically for the storage seals that held her most precious belongings and memories in hidden places within her home. The vest, shirt, shawl, patch, and necklace that Iruka had originally packed before fleeing Kiri were undamaged and safe in their scroll beneath the floorboards (the acorn had been planted in the backyard). There were other scrolls, she knew, scrolls that her parents had hidden carefully - scrolls filled with relics of a life they could no longer live. 

A soft whine brings her attention out of her head, and Iruka finds Okami trying to lead her out of her room and into the rubble of her parents’. He noses at the rubble in the closet. With a sigh and an aching heart, Iruka clears away the debris and allows her companion to direct her attention towards a floorboard knocked loose in the catastrophe. 

Under the floor, just as she’d suspected, were two scrolls, one marked with her mother’s elegant script and the other with her father’s more blocky scrawl; both scrolls are tucked lovingly into the pack Iruka had brought with her.

She’s there for perhaps three more hours, carefully sifting through the wreckage of her home, gathering anything salvageable and loved enough to keep: spare clothes from her parents’ room; a chipped mug; a crayon drawing Iruka had done of her family just after moving here; a tablecloth loved almost to pieces and carefully mended each time; her family’s entire savings, kept beneath the bathroom sink; two porcelain plates of fine quality, though now cracked; and, finally, all of the weapons, in good condition or not, that Ikkaku and Kohari had not been able to take with them in their last battle.

Iruka carefully sorts everything into different scrolls before adding them to her pack which she shoulders. 

“Come on, Okami,” she says softly, eyes lingering sadly on her surroundings. “I’ve gotten everything I want.”

Another soft whine, and the silvery wolf presses his head up against her fingers. She laughs softly - maybe a little strained, but she _refuses_ to let herself cry now - and scratches him obligingly behind the ears. His fur may not feel like a real wolf’s would, but the long-familiar sensation of his chakra body is a comfort to her wounded soul. 

(Uminosei has been quiet in her head, the ancient being not quite human enough to comfort as Iruka needs but loving enough to instead give her the space she _wants_.)

As Umino Iruka makes her way back to Sarutobi’s small compound, she envisions a door closing on the chapter of her life that had once included loving parents. Now she is an orphan, alone in the world, a girl with a mission and a burden and a new little brother who will need her to stay strong, to care for him as his own father would have - as her parents had for her. 

She doesn’t think she’s ready.

* * *

A month later, Kushina is up and walking again, assisting all she can in the rebuilding efforts. Iruka and Naruto have moved into a new apartment with the redhead, but Kushina is gone so often either helping or in sessions with the Council that the two children are left all alone. The brunette cleans and cooks, cares for Naruto as if she’s been doing it all her life, and sleeps curled up with Okami by her side.

Thankfully Iruka’s shishou has refrained from sending Kaisei on any missions during this time (she knows he has ulterior motives, and as time passes, her suspicions grow). Sure enough, within another two weeks she is summoned to his side.

“You summoned me, Danzo-shishou?” she asks without looking up from her kneeling position before him. 

He studies her, and she can sense his pride in her, his favorite little toy. There is also a thoughtful curiosity - a curiosity which is soon indulged. “You have been living with Uzumaki-san and the vessel, have you not?”

Iruka nods. “Yes, shishou.”

“Stand.” 

She does, and somehow she already knows what is coming. 

“I have an indefinite assignment for you, Kaisei. You will continue to stay as close to the vessel as you are allowed. You are to protect him with your life, gain his trust, and, eventually, guide him into the fold.”

He wants to _recruit_ Naruto? Iruka burns hot with fury - hell _no_ will she let that happen! - but Kaisei remains stoic and calm. “Of course, shishou. It will be done.”

Danzo studies her some more; he is dissatisfied with something. “The Council would like to make the Uzumaki girl Godaime Hokage.”

_Really?_ She remains silent. 

“If she were not injured, not a mother to be distracted, and not as hot-blooded, I would even approve of this decision.”

Iruka knew that no love had been lost between Minato and Danzo, but the councilman had respected the blond’s raw talent, power, and genius. Danzo claims to only want what is best for Konoha, and even he had agreed, despite his dislike for Minato’s optimistic dream and kind heart, that the Yellow Flash had been an optimal choice (he would have preferred Orochimaru of the Sannin, but, well. He’d been outvoted).

She understands where he’s coming from, but unlike her shishou Iruka feels that there is no one better to carry one the dream of Namikaze Minato.

“You would like me to keep an eye on her as well,” Kaisei states blandly.

He taps his fingers against the arm of his chair in agreement. “She feels close to you; you might even manage to sway her more to our thinking.”

Aaaand there it is: the clincher. If Iruka hadn’t believed Danzo to be corrupt before, she sure does _now_. Still as emotionless as ever, the part of her that is Kaisei bows her head and salutes with her fist over her heart. “As you will, Danzo-shishou.”

Danzo flicks his fingers in dismissal, and Kaisei blurs out the window and to her new duties as watchdog. Iruka, clone safely on its way to the apartment, detours towards the Hokage tower as soon as it’s safe. 

She has new information for her Hokage.

* * *

Kushina is, unsurprisingly, elected as Godaime Hokage. There is a huge celebration, and in the rush of excitement, Iruka nearly misses the surprising turn her life takes. 

“You’re _what_?”

“Taking you on as my ward!” the redhead beams, Naruto bouncing in her arms. “Isn’t that _great_ , dattebane?”

Iruka is stunned - shocked completely speechless. Naruto begins to squirm and fuss, and without thinking she takes him from his mother’s arms and effortlessly calms him down; she completely misses the aching, longing, and viscerally sad _look_ the older woman blinks away. She doesn’t miss the actual _feelings_ , though, and it’s these that bring her back down to earth. “But - why?” Can anyone blame a girl for feeling so adrift in her own life? 

Now Kushina is feeling worried, and - oh, she _looks_ worried, too. “Whaddya _mean_ , why? We’re _family_ , dattebane! We’re actually distant cousins, an’ you’ve _already_ always been family, dattebane!”

She nods as if she understands, but her mind is still whirling, careening towards a distant precipice at a million miles a minute. “This…” Iruka swallows, not quite able to force the words past her insecurity. “This doesn’t have anything to do with… _his_ orders, do they?”

But for all her training to bury her emotions deep, deep, deep, Kushina sees right through her and sweeps her into a bone-crushing hug. “Oh, no, no, no, Ruka-chan,” the older woman croons as she gently rocks them all back and forth. “I was gonna do this anyway, but I’ve been so busy up until now, dattebane. I’ll admit it will work perfect for your cover, but I really _do_ want you, yanno.”

It takes a moment for Iruka to realize that she’s crying, her free arm grasping at her new guardian’s clothes tightly. “ _Thank you_ ,” she whispers, and it’s all she can say without losing it completely. 

It’s nice to be reminded that there’s still good in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo! Next chapter! I finally finished chapter 11, and it's about three times the length of my average chapter length for this fic. Whoo-boy. 
> 
> Next chapter will be up on Monday :) Please let me know what you guys think of the story so far! Do you have questions? Do you like - or don't like - something I've done? Please let me know. Feedback is treasured! ❤
> 
> Love you all!!!


	6. Barely a Patch Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danzo is scheming, and Iruka is still doing her best to thwart him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a day late! Don't you just hate it when rl gets in the way?

Life goes on for the little family of three. Iruka-the-pre-genin graduates from the Academy a year early and proceeds to continue her terrorizations of the village through increasingly elaborate, complicated, and advanced traps. 

Iruka herself takes to caring for Naruto in her spare time.

(She knows many hate him for the burden he carries, knows that many more judge her for not feeling the same, but - she was  _ there _ . Iruka had been  _ cradling Naruto to her chest _ as her parents died right in front of them both, and she had watched as the Kyuubi was sealed inside that tiny little baby. Of everyone in the village besides Kushina herself, Iruka  _ knows _ that Naruto is not the burden he carries and likewise does not blame him for what was so obviously not his fault.

No, instead she loves the boy, protects him, dotes on him because his mother does not have the time and because hardly anyone else will.)

Kushina, in her spare time, teaches Iruka more about seals and, upon coming across the brunette practicing katas with chakrams recovered from Kohari’s salvaged scroll, begins training her in the weapons unique to Uzushio. 

(Iruka furthers this training as Kaisei and picks up the chokuto blade as well. Danzo approves.)

Konoha, under Kushina’s guidance, picks itself up from the wreckage of the Kyuubi Attack and begins to thrive. It’s hard, but the Hi no Ishi is strong, and everyone does their best to prove that.

There’s one kid, Mizuki, that Iruka becomes friends with. He’s four years older than she is, but he is strong and wicked-good at shurikenjutsu. Mizuki has plans to join ANBU - plans that are ruined even before he can make jounin. At the age of 18 he is promoted to tokubetsu jounin, and at 19 he suffers a hemorrhagic stroke at the end of a very stressful mission caused by an intracranial aneurysm. He is conveniently already in the hospital for treatment when it happens, and the medi-nins save his life. 

What follows is a year of intense treatment after which Mizuki is never quite the same. His personality becomes a little meaner, and he develops a cruel streak supplemented by anger and bitterness. Iruka stays by his side throughout all of it, having to beg off longer missions and even handing Naruto over to one of Kushina’s friends, Uchiha Mikoto, to watch most days. The medi-nins are afraid that the stress-inducing missions required by jounin might cause Mizuki to form another aneurysm, so he is prohibited from ever advancing further. 

In his anger, Mizuki lashes out enough to be demoted back to chunin indefinitely. Iruka hurts for him, she really does, but at this point she can only hope that he will learn his lesson and that the much less stressful life of a chunin will keep her friend from keeling over too soon. 

So of course he becomes a teacher at the Academy, and everyone in on his situation agrees that it will do him good. 

But not everything is bright and hunky dory.

Ever since the Kyuubi Attack, the Uchiha clan has been dogged by suspicion and scrutiny. Their relationship with the village had already been strained to begin with, and Iruka knows that something will have to give. 

Kushina becoming Hokage is an unexpected boon in this case. Her long-time friendship with Mikoto, the clan head’s wife, seems to only strengthen as the redhead turns to her friends for support. For the first time since the Founding, the Uchiha are able to speak and be heard, to know that their opinions matter. 

The tense relations ease, and Kaisei finds herself with an angry master. 

“Who does she think she is?!” 

‘She’ is Kushina, and Danzo is referring to the Godaime actively mending the bridges between the Uchiha and the rest of Konoha. If there is one thing Kaisei has learned while in Danzo’s service, it is that he does not like Uchiha. It is an old, biased hate carried over from the Clan Wars before the Founding, but there is no persuading Shimura Danzo that perhaps people have changed with the times. 

“Because of that Uzumaki  _ wench _ , our plans have been  _ ruined _ !” 

Their plans: to encourage malcontent within the Uchiha until they make the wrong move, and Danzo can give the order to wipe them out for good. 

Kaisei tilts her head slightly, and Danzo huffs his permission to speak. “If I may, Danzo-sama; it might be possible to carry out your plans despite Godaime-sama’s involvement.”

He turns and raises his eyebrow almost disbelievingly. “Oh?”

Iruka feels positively sick; Kaisei feels absolutely nothing. “If suspicion can once again be placed on the Uchiha, then the rest may take its course.”

If anything, Danzo seems even  _ more _ skeptical. “Since you are saying this, I assume you have an idea?”

She bows slightly. “Of course, Danzo-sama. You could send agents to stir up chaos within the village - but only the kind to draw the attention of the Uchiha Police.”

Now his expression settles slightly as understanding takes hold. “Ah. I see. Make it difficult for them to do their job, and then twist the circumstances so that it appears to be their own incompetence and not sabotage.” Danzo feels approving.

“At that point, we can simply let nature take its course; the Uchiha, angry and confused at the false accusations and suspicious occurrences, will naturally fall back on their history and foster their Curse of Hatred even as others level their own hatred at the Uchiha. The situation will implode with Iruka and yourself blinding Godaime-sama to what is really happening.”

Danzo is pleased - pleased and considering. “... It could very possibly work. You believe that Iruka can distract the Hokage sufficiently?”

Kaisei blinks only once. “Yes. Umino Iruka is known as a troublemaker and a prankster. If nothing else, she can fall back on that to draw the attention of Godaime-sama.”

The councilman nods thoughtfully. “This is,” he states, “a testament to your training, Kaisei; you do your village proud.”

And the plan is set in motion.

* * *

Danzo continues to send Kaisei on missions when she is most needed. It’s few and far between until she is promoted to chunin at 16 and is able to complete Root directives under the guises of both ANBU and chunin missions. But with Kushina still Hokage and Iruka still playing a major role in Naruto’s parenting, the councilman thinks it best to pull Kaisei back from missions and keep her as Naruto’s guard. 

She doesn’t argue. 

Instead, Iruka’s too-kind heart threatens to jeopardize a mission, and she goes to Mizuki for help. The mist-haired chunin relents and agrees to do what he can. 

Just after her 17th birthday finds Iruka certified to teach at the Academy, and she begins to co-teach with Mizuki. Of course, Naruto is placed in their class. 

(Mizuki is really a rather good teacher. He can be a little harsh at times, but then who isn’t?)

(Except there’s been recent evidence to suggest that Mizuki might have started to secretly contact someone outside of Konoha; both Danzo and Kushina give orders to keep an eye on him.)

With Iruka watching, everything will turn out fine.

* * *

Umino Iruka holds herself distant, and so therefore has very few friends; Uchiha Itachi is one of them.

Perhaps it’s all the years they’ve spent together while Kushina and Mikoto had fun, or maybe his quiet personality despite possessing such a prodigious intellect. Whatever it is, Iruka quite likes Itachi. They share many ideas and opinions, which certainly helps - and there’s nothing quite like knowing someone thinks the same way as you.

In the end, it is this knowledge, that Itachi believes so strongly in the same sense of justice and peace that she does, that brings Iruka to confide in him her Root identity. 

Unsurprisingly, his sense of honor drives him to convince Iruka to present him to Danzo as a potential recruit.

After being pressured for weeks, Iruka caves, and Kaisei brings Uchiha Itachi to Danzo in the dead of night. 

“An…  _ interesting _ development,” is all the councilman has to say of it, but Itachi is soon implemented into their plans to bring about the demise of the Uchiha clan. 

Uchiha Shisui, Itachi’s older cousin, is not someone Iruka has had cause to interact with in the past outside of ANBU. But Itachi insists that Shisui needs to be in on this, and so one more is added to their plot within the plot. 

With Itachi and Shisui quietly subverting the Uchiha clan’s anger, Danzo’s plan begins to progress at a snail’s pace. His frustration is taken out on Kaisei, the only person he can safely do so with. 

But there still isn’t enough evidence to obliterate Danzo’s hold on the village, its secrets, and its many assets, and other trouble is stirring. 

“Akatsuki,” Kaisei reports, “is what they call themselves. Nukenin all, their leader unknown. Orochimaru was once of their number. Starfish came across a duo in black cloaks moving through Mizu no Kuni.”

“Mizu, ne?” Danzo sighs and leans back. “Threat assessment.”

Kaisei straightens. “High. There is no direct evidence to support this, but Starfish suspects - and Godaime-sama, at the urging of Konoha’s Spymaster, agrees - that Akatsuki may be after the bijuu.”

“The bijuu?” He is surprised - that he didn’t know or at the target, she is unable to say.

“Yes, Danzo-sama. Godaime-sama seems to think that Akatsuki will pose a viable threat in the future.”

“Then we will need access to more information.”

“Efforts to gain access to the Spymaster’s intel have yet proven ineffectual. Calculations indicate future efforts will continue to fail.”

He nods. “I see. An infiltration, then.”

“Evidence gathered by Starfish indicates that only nukenin may be considered for Akatsuki.”

“Further qualifications?”

“That the nukenin pose a considerable threat to the safety of their own village.”

Danzo sinks into silence as he thinks. Minutes pass by, then nearly half an hour, before he focuses once more on his agent. “Uchiha Itachi will murder his clan and flee to Akatsuki.”

Iruka’s blood runs cold. “Will all due respect, Danzo-sama,” Kaisei intones, “the Uchiha clan does not currently pose a great enough threat to warrant or justify their eradication; the risk of suspicion falling to you is too high.”

“You have an alternative?”

“... The extermination of every Uchiha over the age of 10.” 

There are so,  _ so _ many other things that Iruka wishes her mouth would say, but she knows that this is the best she can do, the least terrible thing she can justify to the man who holds the reins. The adults and elders would be killed, the children left to be molded by Danzo.

“The children will be recruited?”

She nods. “Even if they are incapable of performing to your expectations, they will have other uses.”

“Brainwashed and returned to the population,” the monster mutters, “or kept for experiments and breeding.” His eye is calculating and sharp as he praises, “Good job, Kaisei; you have officially surpassed my expectations.”

And Iruka hates the brief flare of pride that Kaisei feels, because Kaisei may be starved for kind words from her master, but  _ Iruka _ is still in there, still aware of how  _ wrong _ everything is - how  _ sick  _ the man before her is.

The next night Itachi is debriefed - and one day later he accepts (because ‘Sasuke will be safe’ and ‘this is the best for the village’ and ‘your clan is attempting to start a civil war’. Danzo believes that  _ Itachi _ believes it, and it’s only Iruka’s sensory abilities that convince her that Danzo’s emotions are not lying).

Two hours later Shisui, Itachi, and Iruka brainstorm furiously to save the Uchiha clan from decimation. 

* * *

It’s not elegant - barely a patch job. 

Shisui approaches Danzo, affecting concern for his cousin that has grown distant and suspicious as of late. Danzo attempts to placate him, but Shisui appears to be dissatisfied, even angry at the inadequate responses. He threatens to go to the Hokage with this - with suspicions that Itachi has been meeting with Danzo and further instigating the bad blood between the Uchiha and the village. 

Shunshin no Shisui is strong - at this point stronger than Itachi - and could very easily pose a threat to Danzo and Root. 

Danzo is forced to concede. His master plan for the Uchiha clan is placed on the back-burner while he and Root lay low, and Itachi is considered too high-risk to keep on; the Uchiha heir goes back to ANBU and the regular forces with no one the wiser.

Iruka sobs into Okami’s fur that night, months of stress washing out with her tears in the face of body-shaking relief. Okami huffs and whines empathetically before gently prodding her into a position where he can curl protectively around her body when she finally drifts into a restless slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh. I wanted to have another picture for this chapter, but now my laptop won't let me save my art as jpg files. 
> 
> This chapter was... tough to write. I wasn't sure how I wanted the address the Uchiha Massacre anyway, but I also really love pre-massacre Itachi and Shisui, and I really think that Iruka would ahve been good friends with them. So, NO massacre. But Akatsuki? I'm still working on that, lmao.
> 
> For those of you wondering why the heck I just seemed to pull chakrams out of my rear end, well, I did a little research into chakrams, their history, and their practicality, and I actually really thought that the Uzumaki of all people would be the ones for just such a weapon. It's round like their seals tend to be, quick, deadly, efficient, and sleek. Sound like a certain clan to anyone else?? No? Just me? 
> 
> Also, I hope you guys like how I explained Mizuki. I did some pretty solid research into aneurysms for this (like, it took me probably three hours of just research to be satisfied with my working knowledge of them). 
> 
> Anyway, please review if you could! Next chapter will be up on Thursday :)


	7. Off With His Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danzo's treachery has reached its end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gah, no pic this chapter either. Sorry, you guys 😔

The world continues to turn, and life goes on. 

It takes two more years before Kushina and Sarutobi believe they have enough evidence to move against Danzo. All available ANBU are put on standby except for their four most elite agents: Cat, Hound, Weasel, and Starfish; they will be sent in first. 

There is another reason that they are chosen: each of them have been part of Root, however briefly, at some point. Cat, Starfish knows, is as old as her and joined Root at about the same age. He has been solely ANBU now for a few years ever since Hound, Root for a short time after the Kyuubi Attack, got him out with Kushina and Sarutobi’s aid. 

Starfish has been Root longest of them all, and she is the first sent in.

“Kaisei,” Danzo greets. Mild curiosity and confusion color his emotions. “You are reporting?”

She is almost caught off guard by how difficult it is to not slip into the role of Kaisei - how much effort is required to stay  _ Starfish _ . “I am Starfish,” she says, and Danzo stiffens.

“Oh? Here on orders from our beloved Hokage?” He is watching her, and Starfish knows there is no coming back from this. 

“By order of the Godaime Hokage, you are under arrest. Your crimes will be read to you once under custody.” The part of her that is Kaisei - or, more accurately, the part of Kaisei that is  _ Danzo’s _ \- softens and asks almost pleadingly, “Please come quietly, Danzo-sama. I can’t - I can’t fight this.”

His eye narrows thoughtfully as he takes that in. For once he is beginning to think that the split personalities of Starfish and Kaisei are not as simple as he thought - that they might, in fact, be hopelessly tangled with each other so as to confuse her loyalties.

(Although, in all fairness, all Root agents are sworn to serve the village as well as Danzo.)

The councilman relaxes. “I’m afraid I must resist.”

Three masked figures blur into existence beside her, and it is Starfish who straightens. “Then we have authorization to use whatever force necessary.”

Everything happens quickly after that. 

The fight moves quickly - almost too quickly. Danzo’s stolen sharingan eye is revealed, and both Hound and Weasel bring their own to bear. Starfish, thanks to her echolocation and Uminosei, is able to follow their movements and keep Cat near the fringes to wait for an opening. All they need is one good shot…

_ There _ . 

Her ability to command water without the use of chakra is exactly the weapon they need against a dojutsu that specializes in  _ seeing  _ chakra; Danzo, while relying almost exclusively on his sharingan, doesn’t even see her coming. 

Within seconds his entire body up to his neck is encased in solid ice. Cat, acting only a millisecond behind her, is draining Danzo’s chakra through his mokuton. Weasel and Hound simultaneously enter Danzo’s mind to interrogate him - and emerge three seconds later with all the information they need. The councilman’s head rolls back in unconsciousness. 

Hound, Weasel, and Cat look at each other. “Who will do it?” Hound asks, aware that, of the four, he has a lesser claim to Danzo’s life. 

To everyone’s surprise, Weasel answers, “Starfish.” 

Of course. She had told him, had she not?

“Not only is she in charge of this operation, but her cooperation with Godaime-sama has been key in bringing about Danzo-san’s downfall for over a decade.”

Hound and Cat feel a surprise that is quickly buried beneath their calm facades. “Starfish?” Hound asks.

She is frozen in place as three completely separate reactions war within her. Starfish will kill him if necessary; she has permission from her Hokage. Kaisei  _ wants _ to kill him, wants to make him suffer for all the pain he’s put her and so many other children through. But Iruka… Iruka’s heart is too big for her, and she sympathizes with an old man driven to madness by years of conditioning and misconceptions. 

And it’s Iruka that Starfish and Kaisei want to be:  _ free _ . 

Starfish shakes her head once in refusal. Confusion and shock emanate from Cat and Weasel respectively, but Hound simply cuts off Danzo’s head with a smooth swipe of his tanto blade. 

* * *

The next day, Uzumaki Kushina stands before the entire Council and presents the case of Shimura Danzo along with all the evidence. 

“As we speak,” she says, “ANBU are raiding all of Root’s hideouts. ANBU Commander Sparrow is leading the efforts in rounding up every Root agent for interrogation.”

“What of this seal you mentioned?” one council member asks. “Won’t it prevent them from answering direct questions?”

Kushina shakes her head. “The seal dissipated upon Danzo’s death. Four of our ANBU are former Root, though only one of them ever received the seal, and he is now able to answer any question about the organization or its master that we put to him.”

“Four?!” another council member gasps in astonishment. “That can’t be!”

After a moment of deliberation the Hokage agrees. “You’re right; one of those ANBU is still technically Root, though it was their efforts that made the downfall of Root possible.”

Every council member is visibly astonished, and Kushina feels a headache coming on. This is going to be a  _ long _ day…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a little shorter. But Danzo is finally taken care of, so that's good. Also, we're getting to see more of the wear-and-tear on Iruka's mind; this will be seen more prevalently in later chapters.
> 
> Speaking of later chapters, I have been stuck on chapter 12 for a week now - not even a whole section in 😩. For some reason this chapter just isn't *working* so I just need to find another way to write it. 
> 
> Please let me know what you think! 
> 
> Shout out to everyone who participated in the KakaIru Mini Bang! Your fics/art were EPIC, believe it!!


	8. End of These Lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ends of many strings will tie together nicely - but will Iruka be left at the end of her rope?

Iruka no longer needs to keep an eye on Danzo’s movements. Danzo is dead, and she is free. Kushina discharges Kaisei from Root and retires Starfish from ANBU. Iruka continues teaching at the Academy as a chunin and taking care of Naruto. 

And investigating Mizuki. It’s her last undercover mission, and she’s ready for it all to be over. 

A year passes, and Naruto fails his first attempt at the Graduation Exam. Except, he _shouldn’t_ have because Iruka has been training him, Hatake Kakashi has been training him when he attends Kushina’s mandatory monthly family dinners (dinners Kushina almost always manages to schedule around his missions), Kakashi’s friend _Gai_ has been training him - Naruto shouldn’t have failed. His chakra control is still practically nonexistent, but he shouldn’t have failed. Iruka had _planned_ for his larger reserves, had taught him ways to get around it, and _Naruto shouldn’t have failed_. 

Suspicion brews. Uminosei agrees. The brown-haired chunin goes back and looks at every paper with Naruto’s name that Mizuki graded - and wants to be sick with the pattern that emerges. 

It starts before the fall of Danzo, around the time Iruka noticed Mizuki distancing himself from their comrades. Slowly, over weeks and months and now years, Mizuki has gradually altered Naruto’s scores until the jinchuuriki has fallen to the bottom of the class. As it so happens, Mizuki is also the one who scores the practical part of the Graduation Exam.

Seeing as there is no time like the present, Iruka takes the next opportunity to sneak into Mizuki's house and snoop around. Nothing immediately stands out, but a little digging reveals a small scroll that holds a decryption key and instructions on how to deliver correspondence. 

That’s it; that’s all Iruka needs to incriminate her friend as a traitor to Konoha. But… she wants very badly to give him the benefit of the doubt, to believe that just maybe she’s interpreting the small details _wrong_ . Still, this could be the safety of her _family_ that’s at risk, so with some handy jutsu Iruka copies the small scroll and takes off for wherever the Hokage might be. 

“Iru-chan?” Kushina asks in confusion as the younger girl slips silently through the window. “Is something wrong?”

She doesn’t hesitate as she hands the scroll over. “I have reason to suspect that Ito Mizuki is engaging in suspicious activity worthy of immediate investigation.”

The red-head eyes her worriedly but takes the scroll and skims it. “You’re not ANBU anymore, Iruka. It’s not your place to search out problems like this.”

“But I _do_ have a duty to report the questionable behavior of the people who are _supposed_ to be my _friends_ ,” she counters; there is no joy in how Kushina flinches and feels a flash of guilt. 

“Do you have other evidence?”

“... He marked down Naruto’s papers to land him at the bottom of the class.”

Anger flashes hot and heavy as if the sun were just dropped on top of her; violet eyes flash. “He did _what_?!” 

“All of Naruto’s grades determined by Mizuki have deliberately sabotaged.” The rage intensifies so quickly and so exponentially that Iruka finds it difficult to even draw in enough breath to say, “I would advise _against_ bringing Mizuki directly into custody.”

“And _why_ ,” the irate mother snarls, “is _that_?”

Iruka holds her ground. “We need to know what sort of information Mizuki is giving, and we need to know especially who Mizuki is working _for_.”

The anger bristles but contracts back to its owner; Kushina visibly forces herself to relax. “You’re right. Rabbit!” An ANBU drops from the ceiling, and the brunette pretends to flinch at the sudden appearance. “Rabbit, I want you to tag-team Ito Mizuki with Rooster. Do not reveal or engage. Iruka here has information on how certain correspondence is to be delivered between Ito-san and his contact, so you will track the correspondence and learn the identity of the contact. This mission involves village security, so alert ANBU Commander Sparrow that I need to speak with him _yesterday_.”

Rabbit nods and blurs out the window. 

Kushina turns back to Iruka. “Now. Did you bring copies of Naruto’s papers?”

* * *

Thankfully, Iruka’s snooping is able to bring to light Mizuki’s traitorous actions. Apparently one of Orochimaru’s spies had approached the Academy sensei about gathering intelligence for their master. Mizuki had agreed - on the condition that he was able to join Orochimaru in the future. 

Iruka thought that ridiculous as everything she knew about Orochimaru indicated that the Sannin was more likely to use Mizuki for his experiments. 

Apparently Mizuki had seen this as an opportunity to sabotage the Kyuubi’s container as a sort of ‘goodbye’ present. 

A little more digging unearths Yakushi Kabuto as Orochimaru’s contact within the village, and Iruka maybe takes a little more satisfaction than she should when Kushina informs her that the white-haired traitor was killed by Weasel. 

Kushina and Iruka gently question Naruto about Mizuki; they learn that, when Iruka wasn’t there, Mizuki was mean to him and put him down until he hardly believed in his own skills. With some gentle persuasion, the two women manage to convince their most precious person to get some counseling for a few months - Iruka promises to go with him - and wait to graduate with his agemates. Of course he puts up a fuss, but once he understands that the Council is wary of his early graduation due to his jinchuuriki status (a conversation that had, thankfully, happened when he was eight), he agrees if only to make life easier for the woman who birthed him and the girl who raised him. 

Iruka is allowed to go with the team sent to bring in Mizuki. 

She goes in first with the idea that a familiar face will put him off guard. As always he is mean and cruel, but she takes it as if this is just another visit to an old friend. Eventually she knows her time is up, and she calmly informs Mizuki that his communications with Orochimaru and Kabuto have been discovered and that she is there to bring him before their Hokage. 

He, of course, puts up a fight. 

Now, Mizuki has always been bigger and stronger than her, and despite being demoted he has never once stopped training his body at a jounin level. Iruka is smaller and more agile, quicker and better at adapting, but the two chunin have been friends for years, and Iruka can’t afford to allow Starfish or Kaisei show through when there are others watching; she must fight him as a chunin herself. 

The battle is bitter. They use every trick and advantage over each other they have, but Iruka’s chakra is strange, less dense than average, and it takes more chakra to perform the same jutsu that her opponent shoots off with ease. The ANBU watching must realize she’s on her last legs, that Mizuki has managed to tire her more than she has him, and Hound blurs into focus just as Mizuki lets loose a fuuma shuriken - a _shadow_ fuuma shuriken, and Iruka knows with a sudden clarity that Hound is unaware of Mizuki’s trick. 

Without thought - heart beating _paNIC paNIC paNIC_ \- she throws herself between her former friend and her soulmate and takes the second shuriken in her back, just off of her spine. 

Her world is pain, and she feels Hound’s irritation, hears Mizuki’s gleeful and malicious laughter, and senses him take off and the ANBU follow. A different ANBU ( _familiar_ her mind whispers, _Badger_ ) removes the shuriken and hastily carries her to the hospital for treatment. 

* * *

Iruka wakes up feeling fuzzy and very, very drugged. Naruto is curled up on the bed beside her, and Weasel is in the corner, watching. 

“They apprehended him,” he says quietly. 

She nods and grimaces. “Good. I would hate to think I went through all that for nothing.” 

“... I should have stepped in sooner.”

“No,” she replies immediately. “It might have spared me some _physical_ pain, yes, but I needed to face him on my own.” Left unsaid is that no closure was really found, especially since she was _literally stabbed in the back_ by someone who used to be a friend. 

Weasel tenses at the words unspoken before he gives in and slips off his mask. Itachi is frowning, brow creased with worry. “They are unsure how well you will recover.”

It hurts at first, the thought that she might not be able to be shinobi, but then Uminosei’s voice hushes her like waves over the shoals. 

_You will heal. You will be shinobi._

Iruka smiles gently and relaxes. “Don’t worry, Itachi. I’ll be fine. Promise.” 

He looks unconvinced, but he slips the mask back on and Weasel straightens. “I will inform Godaime-sama that you’re awake.”

Weasel blurs away and Iruka settles back into her pillow, one hand carding through Naruto’s hair.

Maybe things will be okay. 

* * *

Iruka makes a full recovery - a miracle, her doctors say. She’s in a wheelchair for a few days, then on crutches for two weeks, then a cane for one week, and then she’s home scott free.

Mizuki is interrogated by Morino Ibiki and imprisoned for life on charges of corroboration with a known nukenin, the perpetration of treason, and the intention to commit _more_ treason. As one of his acquaintances, friends, and his co-teacher, Iruka is interrogated, too. She isn’t able to give them much more than she already told Kushina, but the evidence and observations she brings - corroborated with Mizuki’s former girlfriend - are what help put Mizuki in prison. 

After that Iruka continues teaching. She sleeps curled up with Okami, Uminosei a comforting presence in her mind, for weeks, the devastation she feels at her closest friend’s betrayal almost crippling though she hides it so well. Chunin and tokujou she’s run missions with - Yuuhi Kurenai, Kamizuki Izumo, Hagane Kotetsu, Shiranui Genma - and even Sandaime’s youngest son, Sarutobi Asuma, stop her in the streets to ask her how she’s doing, if she needs anything. The part of her that has always been Umino Iruka basks as much as the situation allows in the attention of her peers, but the parts of her that will always be Kaisei and Starfish balk at that same attention and want it all to just _go away_. 

Okami sympathizes with her desire to hide away and lick her wounds until it all blows over, but Uminosei gives her the strength she needs to pick up and soldier on. 

Maybe if she _tells_ everyone that she’s okay, she will eventually begin to believe it.

* * *

Iruka never lost contact with Itachi and Shisui. They are good people, younger than her though not by much, and they bring Sasuke with them to play with Naruto at least once a week - as missions allow - so that they can talk and catch up. Every now and then they even see fit to tell her what’s going on in ANBU: who’s doing who, who has been discharged, who has been killed, who’s been promoted - all that jazz. 

It is, in fact, the announcement of a discharge that they bring with them shortly after Mizuki’s trial comes to an end. 

“Really?” She’s shocked, to put it mildly. 

Shisui nods vigorously. “I know! All of us believed he would be there _forever_!” 

Itachi remains stoic. “Hound is not immortal, you know.” 

Of the three of them, Itachi is the only one who knows Hound’s identity; he is also the only one to ever officially be a part of Team Ro besides a few brief missions. However, Iruka and Shisui know better than anyone that an ANBU’s identity is not something to be taken lightly, and they've never asked despite any personal motives they might have.

“No, we know,” Shisui agrees, “but that doesn’t stop him from _acting_ like he is.” 

The younger man nods, conceding the point. 

There’s a sense of panic building in Iruka’s chest beneath the shock. She feels small, insignificant. If Hound is no longer Hound, then he could be almost anyone. He could be almost _anywhere_ , he could be _dead_ , and Iruka will never be able to find him again. 

Her heart throbs and her eyes begin to burn as the pain of knowing her soulmate might never _know_ , of losing him before she even _has_ him, stabs her in the chest. 

Okami whines to her left and rests his muzzle on her knee, and when had she even manifested him?

Itachi and Shisui don’t have their sharingan activated, thankfully, because Okami is chakra and they would be able to _see_ him. As it is, they notice her distress. 

“Ru-chi?” Shisui asks in concern. “You alright?”

Iruka forces herself to smile brightly and lets Okami fade away. “Ah, I’m fine!” she chirps and rubs her neck sheepishly. “Just got a little lost in thought, sorry!” 

It’s a terrible lie, and her friends know it, but they drop the subject and go on to gossip about other things. Iruka only wishes that their attempts to distract her work.

* * *

Naruto graduates at the age of 12. His best friends are Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Uchiha Sasuke. Kakashi is on a mission, but Jiraiya, Naruto’s godfather, is muscled by Kushina into attending. 

There’s celebratory ramen afterwards and a few gifts - namely shinobi clothes that are _not_ bright orange or at least _less_ so. That night Naruto curls up with Iruka in bed; sleep evades the chunin, but at least her boy sleeps soundly. 

(With Mizuki taken care of and Naruto a genin, Iruka will only be an Academy sensei and chunin. Naruto will no longer be under her direct care day in and day out; she’ll only be with him when he comes home from missions, and as he gets older his missions will get longer and more frequent. 

_What will I be without a mission? Without a directive?_

Iruka thinks that her biggest fear might be to serve no further purpose for her precious people. She doesn’t know what she’ll do with herself, how she’ll _live_ with herself, now that everything’s over.)

The next day teams are announced, and Iruka finds some relief in knowing that Naruto’s jounin sensei is someone who Kushina trusts: Hatake Kakashi. He apparently returned from his mission hours after graduation with mild chakra depletion, so Iruka does the smart thing and warns Naruto and his two potential teammates that their sensei will probably be late. By a lot. 

Iruka sighs and goes to her shift at the Mission Desk. At least she can still serve her village. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter brings to an end the remains of Iruka's last ongoing missions. I hope the pacing isn't too weird for y'all :/ 
> 
> I... don't really have a lot to say? Oh! Except that I won't be able to update on Thursday, so the next chapter will be up on Monday instead. Part of this is due to the fact that I'm going to participate in the KakaIru Nine Weeks of Summer, and I need to have that fic - a oneshot this time, thank goodness - up by the 4th. 
> 
> Please leave a review and kudos; they really make my week uwu 
> 
> Stay safe, and stay gold!


	9. A Good Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iruka is in a unique position to stop some bad habits before they start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Here's the next chapter, as promised :) It's super short, so apologies! I just couldn't figure out how to work this into another chapter :P

Haruno Sakura, like almost every other female in Iruka’s class, is obsessed with Sasuke. Or, at least, she  _ was _ . Umino Iruka worked very hard and used every bit of sway she had as a female to convince the girls in her class that being a kunoichi was not all about boys and love. In fact, love had nothing to do with the missions they would be given, and not all of their targets  _ would _ be boys. 

Being a kunoichi - a  _ proper _ one, not like Iruka because Iruka has always been Root and ANBU and saved for other missions - is about  _ appearances _ , about  _ information _ and  _ stealth _ . But physical appearance is only part of it, and seduction an even smaller percentage. More often than not it’s the men who go crazy, and it’s up to the women to act as anchors. 

(Chunin in general serve as the more emotionally stable shinobi, but  _ female _ chunin are held in rather high regard for their empathy and soothing demeanor.)

Iruka teaches her girls ikebana and fashion and the little bit of seduction allowed at the Academy - but she also teaches them how to use senbon, about poisons, how to read a person, basic iryojutsu and genjutsu, stealth, and, above all, about the darkness and dangers that follow girls and women in a shinobi world. She will not let them leave her room unprepared. 

(Mizuki had often laughed at her when she told him about the curriculum she had planned, but she had ignored him and continued on; she knew what was out there even better than he did.)

By the time Iruka’s class graduates, many of the girls still have a crush on the talented, happy Sasuke - no massacre, no trauma, still a  _ child thank kami _ \- but  _ all _ of them have the potential to become the next Tsunade or Biwako, and  _ none _ of them are fangirls. 

The boys, too, are nothing to scoff at, because in this class Iruka has taught respect and equality, has taught the proper chain of command, has impressed upon them the importance of teamwork and the small things that make this village run. They can use senbon just as well as the girls, and all of them are capable of using at least basic traps and mid-genin level stealth. 

In the end, Iruka wishes she’d had more time to teach them, but they make up the most talented graduating class perhaps ever seen in Konoha. 

It’s a good start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I was writing this section a month ago I really felt the need to address how Iruka teaches in the classroom. Not only am I introducing a new gender which would, especially in the case of guy shinobi vs kunoichi, affect how she teaches, but Iruka also has a new background and different skills/experiences to draw from in her teaching. I also figured that with the Uchiha Massacre not happening this time around, Sasuke wouldn't have such fanatic fangirls. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this!
> 
> I'm still a little stuck on chapter 12 :( I have a detailed outline of what I want, but I'm also trying to streamline the story a little so that I can work on some of my other stuff. Since I want to keep some chapters in reserve, I won't post again until next Monday. 
> 
> Shout-out to mt_nikolle for being such a huge supporter of this fic!! Virtual cookies and hugs for keeping me inspired to write this :) 
> 
> As always, if you wouldn't mind leaving a review, it would be most appreciated. Like, even just a smiley face or frowney face or whatever to let me know how you guys are enjoying this, maybe?? Thank you!
> 
> Stay safe out in this crazy world, and remember that you are special :)


	10. The Calm Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She can't really be blamed for worrying, can she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo! Sorry for not posting Monday like I said. Tbh I kinda totally forgot to (so many apologies). For and update on the status of this fic (nothing too major, I swear) please read the end note :)
> 
> Also! I commissioned a piece from the amazing dah_twitchi (you can check them out on tumblr or on ao3) and posted it at the end of chapter 8, so please go have a look-see! 😄

Iruka’s first major Naruto-related heart attack comes with the boy’s first C-rank mission. Because Iruka is the one who raised him, she fears for her boy and his team. Because she helped train him, she knows he is ready. 

She settles for holding Kakashi’s one-eyed, bored gaze until he relents and nods once in her direction. 

The mission is supposed to be two weeks long: escort Tazuna to his village and come straight back with a few extra days thrown in to account for the bad luck of shinobi. 

Kakashi sends word only two days in that they’ve been ambushed by two chunin-level nukenin. It’s then that the anxious dread settles in Iruka’s gut, and it takes everything she has to not request to be sent in as backup.

Then nothing. For a week there’s nothing, no word, and the anxious dread knots and twists its way up to constrict her chest. 

Another week passes after receiving a short, vague missive from Kakashi, but there's no word on when they will return; they’re already a week later than they should be. 

Iruka has taken to standing at the Gates every evening after her Mission Desk shift to wait for Team Seven. 

Kushina is actually just about to send backup, Iruka hovering tensely in the corner of the Hokage’s office, when Peacock shunshins into the office and reports Team Seven’s presence at the Gate. Iruka breaks down in harsh sobs for a moment, all of her anxiety and worry releasing in one, dramatic moment. By the time Team Seven is actually standing before the Godaime, the chunin is once more composed and tucked behind her mask. 

Kakashi gives the report. His voice is mechanical, odd, and he feels guilt and regret and exhaustion. Sakura is shocked, still coming to grips with the events of the tale her sensei weaves. Sasuke feels disbelief and anger, and no little amount of irritation directed solely at himself and his supposed shortcomings. And Naruto…

Naruto, for once, is quiet and withdrawn. Guilt, and shame, and anger, and regret, and loss are swirling so violently within him that it’s a wonder he isn’t doubled over sick with the force of it. Everything begins to make sense when Kakashi feels respect as he tells them about Momochi Zabuza and his apprentice, Haku. 

_ Oh _ , she thinks.  _ Oh, Naruto. _

Because that boy’s heart is 100 sizes too big, and even if Kushina and Iruka have worked to shield him from the worst of it, the village still has been unkind to the jinchuuriki boy, and he has hurt because of it. 

_ My boy _ . 

Kushina dismisses Team Seven, and Kakashi leaves to walk Sakura and Sasuke to their homes. As soon as they’re gone, Kushina is kneeling in front of Naruto and hugging him tightly to her chest. He doesn’t cry, but he wants to.

Iruka waits until the two pull apart, and then she’s beside him, a gentle hand on his back, steering him from the office and to his bed in their home; he waits until they’re inside the door before he buries his face in her stomach and begins to bawl. 

In broken, sobbing sentences, Naruto tells her about Haku, the brave, mistreated boy he had wanted to save so badly, about Haku’s master, Zabuza, who had raised Haku without being a father - how the two men had reminded Naruto so much of Iruka with their kindness, their drive to serve and protect, their willingness to ignore their own pain for the sake of others. 

And - And it  _ killed _ Naruto. It hurt him so bad to see that, to see his precious people - because Zabuza and Haku had made that list in the span of a week - suffer so greatly. 

The chunin feels her own tears pearl on her cheeks as she clutches her boy to her, holds him close as if she will never let him go. 

Soon enough he grows quiet, his empathetic heartache driving him to exhaustion, and Iruka tenderly undresses him and tucks him into bed. Just as she moves to leave, his hand ( _ Still so small _ , she thinks) snags her wrist. With a pained smile, she climbs in beside him and lets him curl up against her, face tucked into her neck and breaths billowing softly across her skin. 

Tonight she’ll stay with her boy. 

* * *

Her second Naruto-related heart attack comes with Kakashi’s nomination of Team Seven to the Chunin Exams. 

Iruka almost -  _ almost _ \- calls him out right then and there in front of their Hokage and all of his peers, but she lets Starfish step in just long enough to control her temper and save herself from making an embarrassment of herself. 

Afterwards, though, is a different story. 

“What are you  _ thinking _ ?!”

The jounin - her  _ superior _ , and  _ Kami-dammit, Iruka, pull yourself together! _ \- eyes her blandly without saying anything.

“Are you trying to  _ kill _ them?!” 

“I think you forget,” he interjects smoothly, “that they are no longer in your classroom.”

His words are measured to hurt, and they  _ do _ , but Iruka  _ doesn’t care _ .  _ Yes _ she knows she’s unhealthily attached to those kids, but she put her  _ soul _ into them! Shouldn’t that  _ mean _ something? “I  _ know _ that,” she snaps back, “which is why I  _ know _ that this exam will be too much for them!”

“So you just don’t have faith in their skills.” 

“GARGH!  _ You _ -” 

“Or maybe no faith in  _ your _ skills.” He quirks an eyebrow. 

She freezes. What…? Was  _ happening _ ??? Kakashi wasn’t going to chastise her and humiliate her and claim those kids as his soldiers? Which, really, wasn’t  _ wrong _ , but she already  _ knew that _ \- just like Iruka knew that there was something fishy about the Chunin Exams this year: the  _ real _ reason she wanted the rookie genin to  _ stay away _ .

Kakashi has no window into her inner thoughts as she does his, but he is not known as a genius for nothing, and especially not as a genius known for his observational and deductive skills - for _seeing underneath the underneath_. “Every one of those genin that you taught is way more prepared for these exams than the last batch to graduate - and  _ five _ teams passed their secondary tests as opposed to the projected  _ three _ . If this is a matter of your own insecurities, then you have no ground for concern.” 

His eye narrows, and Iruka feels herself shrinking back under the intense scrutiny. 

“But you aren’t the type to allow your emotions to control your common sense, and you’re not bad at logical thinking. Ergo, something else is wrong.”

The silence stretches uncomfortably, and Iruka, who has rarely spoken to the infamous Copy Nin before despite their shared precious people, finds herself feeling picked apart and  _ known _ \- the kind of feeling one only gets when a mind a thousand times more superior to yours reads you like an open book.

“The Chunin Exams,” he states at last. “You know something about the Chunin Exams.”

Iruka forces herself to swallow around the lump in her throat and straighten, hands balled into fists. “Kushina-neesan knows everything  _ I _ know,” she replies firmly but doesn’t add,  _ And  _ **_I_ ** _ only know because I help Godaime sort reports. _

The brunette had spotted discrepancies in reports regarding Sunagakure no Sato; not  _ intentional _ discrepancies, just details that didn’t add up based on what other reports had led them to expect. For the last month Iruka has been working with a select few to sort through the inconsistencies and put together an accurate picture of what the heck is going  _ on _ .

“You didn’t say anything during the meeting.” 

“It wasn’t my place.” 

“But you  _ know _ something.”

“Information I’m not at liberty to share with shinobi who’s security clearance I don’t  _ know _ .” 

He feels intrigued. “Do  _ I _ have clearance?”

“Has Godaime-sama  _ told _ you anything?” she shoots back, and Kakashi falls silent.

Another long silence stretches, this one more tense. Eventually the jounin relents, “Fine. Keep your secrets - and I’ll keep the kids safe.”  _ Don’t think I won’t look into this _ , his eye warns, and Iruka squares her shoulders and lifts her chin. 

“If you’re going to poke your nose into this anyway, which you  _ will _ , then just know that only Kushina-nee and I are privy to  _ all _ the details. If you ask Kushina-nee, she’ll probably tell you.”

Kakashi eye-smiles. “But where’s the fun in that?” He leaves her in a swirl of wind and leaves feeling rather disgruntled. 

“ _ Jounin _ .”

* * *

The third Naruto-related heart attack occurs the moment slippery, malevolent chakra erupts from the Forest of Death shortly followed by what Iruka distinctly recalls is the Kyuubi’s chakra. 

_ Naruto _ . 

And Orochimaru, she would bet, just as Kushina and she had feared. Iruka is set to be summoned for Team Seven when they pass, though, and she knows that Kakashi at least warned them to be on the lookout for suspicious characters. 

The moment Iruka is summoned into their midst, she is checking them over for injuries. Dark fingers grip small chins and twist heads back and forth, gentle hands pat down slim bodies, and worried eyes take in every detail; it’s how she finds the dark juinjutsu seal on the back of Sasuke’s neck.

“Oh, kami,” she breathes and falls to her knees in wide-eyed horror.  _ Orochimaru _ . 

She should have seen this coming. Sasuke, while not one of the  _ last _ Uchiha like Danzo had tried to ensure so many years ago, is still a prodigy and currently the most vulnerable of his clan - a prime target for Orochimaru of the Sannin, mad scientist extraordinaire. Iruka had  _ known _ that something was going to go wrong and should have kept a closer eye on the kids; she had no excuse for choosing not to. 

“-uka? Iruka-nee?”

Iruka is drawn out of her stupor by Naruto’s voice, and she blinks at the scared teenagers around her. “Naruto,” she whispers, and then her arms are around him and holding him close, and she’s pulling the other two in as well. “Oh, kami,” she repeats. “I’m so sorry. I - I  _ knew _ something was wrong, but I -” Her voice chokes. “ _ I’m so sorry _ .”

Sakura, ever the practical one, pulls shakily away. “W-What is that thing on Sasuke-k-kun’s neck, Iruka-sensei?”

The chunin stiffens, as do Sasuke and Naruto; they reluctantly part, and Iruka once more exams the mark. “A juinjutsu seal,” she admits eventually. “A complete one, too.” Under her breath, “Orochimaru’s been busy.” But, for all that the Snake Sannin was a genius, Uzumaki Kushina was Konoha’s Seal Master and Iruka her apprentice; they knew more than him on this matter. 

She swallows again, forces herself to regain her bearings. 

“I can seal it away,” Iruka tells them. “Kushina-sama will know more about how to remove it, but without the proper research I just don’t have the skill right now.” She holds Sasuke’s gaze, because this will affect him more than the others. “Too many teams have already passed both rounds, so there will be a prelim once the second part of the exam is officially over. If I seal it away now, you won’t be well enough to participate in the prelims, and you will be disqualified from the rest of the exam. However, this curse mark feeds on and uses your own chakra and emotions to sustain itself, so if you use too much or allow your feelings to control you, it will take over, and the results will not be pretty.” 

The genin all share a wince, and the chunin realizes that they’ve already seen something right along those lines. 

“From this point on, it is not a team effort; you all will advance on your own merits, so choosing to not advance to the preliminaries will not harm your teammates’ chance.” It’s important that Sasuke make this decision on his own while knowing that it will not affect his friends in any way. 

Everything is silent while the raven-haired boy thinks - until he looks her squarely in the eyes and says grimly, “Seal it, Iruka-sensei. I won’t give my team a reason to not trust me in battle regardless of my rank.” 

Pride swells in Iruka’s heart, and she nods. “Alright.” A deep breath in to steady her nerves. “Alright. We’ll have to do it here before anyone else arrives.” She guides him into seiza on the ground and motions the other two to stand back against the wall. At the chunin’s request, his shirt is removed for better access to the mark. 

Now comes the hard part: withdrawing a brush and inkwell, Iruka mixes some of her own blood into the dark liquid and begins to write symbols that circle around and spider-web away from the juinjutsu mark. Each symbol forms a meticulously constructed seal that pulses faintly with power, and Iruka internally winces at the amount of chakra she will need to expend in order to properly seal Sasuke’s curse mark away. 

10 minutes later the deed is done, both Iruka and Sasuke are collapsed on the ground, one in pain and both exhausted. 

“Ruka-nee!” Naruto is kneeling by her side in seconds, small little hands - stronger and more calloused than she last remembered, actually - frantically checking her for injury. “Ruka-nee, are you okay?!” 

She huffs a forced laugh. “S-Sure, Naru-kun, I’m f-fine. Peachy. Jus’ - Jus’ give me a secon’, ne?” Iruka struggles to breathe through the crushing sensation in her chest that often comes with extremely low chakra reserves. “Sak’ra-chan?”

Mercifully the pinkette understands what Iruka’s trying to ask and answers, “Sasuke-kun is alright, Iruka-sensei. He’s unconscious right now, but other than his pulse being a little quick and his chakra low, he seems to be fine.”

The chunin nods and relaxes into a puddle on the floor. “Yer sensei,” she murmurs, because she knows that Kakashi must be around somewhere (and she knows that he will have given his team some way to contact him in case of a true emergency). 

Naruto nods once, expression one of stubborn determination, and whips out a small scroll; he bites the pad of his thumb and smears it down the middle before performing hand signs Iruka recognizes but has never used, and a moment later a small pug is before them in the middle of a cloud of smoke. 

“Pakkun!” the blond shouts. “Ya need ta get Kakashi-sensei right away, dattebayo!”

The ninken takes a moment to look around at the state of Iruka and Sasuke on the floor, sniffs the air once and wrinkles his nose, then stands. “No kidding, pup,” he drawls. A moment later he’s gone, and all Iruka knows is that she’s  _ tired _ . 

“No! Ruka-nee, you gotta stay  _ awake _ !” 

“It’s alright,” Sakura soothes, and Iruka takes a moment to wonder why the girl’s voice sounds so far away. “Iruka-sensei just seems to be suffering from chakra exhaustion; she should be alright to sleep…”

Well, that’s tantamount to permission.

Iruka is out in seconds. 

* * *

Naruto is the only one of his team to make it past the preliminary round, Sakura and her opponent, Yamanaka Ino, ending their fight in a well-earned double-knockout. Sasuke is able to watch from the sidelines and cheer his team on with Kakashi, but Iruka is left bedridden in her apartment for a couple  _ days _ . 

The blond and his friends - most of his graduating class, really - come and visit her as soon as they can. Kushina pops in, and so do Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu, two chunin that Iruka has become friends with during Mission Desk shifts and Chunin Bar Nights. Shisui and Itachi drop in, each expressing at least once their gratitude for her quick work on protecting Sasuke. 

But then Naruto is off with Jiraiya to train for the final round of the Chunin Exams, and Iruka is back to teaching. She bumps into Kakashi once at Ichiraku’s and they share a quiet, impromptu meal before going their separate ways. The brunette fills up her extra time by doing more research into juinjutsu, and the special clearance she has long-since received allows her to even dig into what notes of Orochimaru’s the village still has. Kushina and she consult together often, and by the time a month has rolled around, they feel as if they have a strong working base for what they need to do. 

First, the third round of the Chunin Exams. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My only real comment for this chapter is that last bit with Pakkun. I realize it's not realistic that Kakashi would give Naruto the summoning contract for the ninken, so for those of you - including myself when I re-read that part for the first time, lol - who don't really understand, here's what I think I was thinking: Kakashi this time around is obvs more involved in training and protecting his students than before. Knowing that something is up with the Chunin Exams, Kakashi gives his kids a sure-fire way to contact him should they be in absolute danger. The contract is a modified, temporary one that only summons Pakkun, is keyed to each kid's chakra, and contains the stipulation that Pakkun himself can terminate his summoning or even the contract at any time should he deem is necessary (as opposed to Kakashi's contract with the ninken where the duration of their stay in in the physical world is determined by how long Kakashi's chakra lasts and when HE let's them go) (this also means that, if Pakkun feels the kid summoning has too low chakra, he can unsummon himself from them and reverse-summon Kakashi if he needs to) ((this ended up way too complicated, lol)).
> 
> Also, can we please talk about Naruto treating Iruka more like a mom than he does Kushina? It - It bReAkS my hEaRt to write but at the same time *hurts so good*. Ugh. Angst that I surprise myself with, amiright?
> 
> UPDATE: There's still quite a bit of this story to tell. However, I'm struggling with writing some of the later chapters bc of the detail that they absolutely require. On top of that, my family is taking a short little vacation back to the town where I grew up which holds a lot of memories for me - most of them a little angsty, tbh. I'll keep working on the chapters, but I don't think I'll be in much shape to post next Monday or even the Monday after that. Again, so many apologies 😥
> 
> Thank you for reading! I love hearing from you guys in the comments, and I've gotten some great review these last few weeks 🥰 Please take care of yourselves :) ¡Adiós!

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is the first chapter. Chapter 2 should be up on Thursday :) 
> 
> I chose the theme Soulmates for the Mini Bang, but I did include a minor reference to a Japanese urban legend (of sorts). It's a little vague, and I'll probably only explain it in the End Notes for chapter three since it doesn't really play a huge role in the story other than a slight misconception on Iruka's part. Can you guys guess what the legend is?
> 
> Please let me know what you think! 
> 
> Also, shout-out to mytsukkishine for reading over my notes and helping me improve on this idea and for your fantastic support :)


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